Fabric for the manufacture of insoles and counters of shoes



, and ,pliability will be largely increased, and it UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. FULLER ON, or

nosrron, MASSACHUSETTS.

FABRIC FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF INSOLES AND COUNTERS 0F SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,603, dated December 2, 1884.

Application filed August 21, 1884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. FULLER- TON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Fabric for the Manufacture of Insoles and Counters of Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

In my Patents Nos. 299,125 and 299,126, dated May 27, 1884, I have described a fabric composed of a fibrous sheet having its fibers cemented together and also cemented to one or more sheets of cloth, and my present invention is an improvement upon that fabric; and it consists in a fabric composed of one or more sheets of cloth, felt, paper, leather, or other flexible sheet material of like nature saturated or coated with glue treated with chrome-alum and heat.

In the manufacture of my fabric already patented I found that when glue alone was used not only did the fabric require to be waterproofed for most uses, but the glue was more brittle than was desirable for certain usesthat is, the fabric gave out a cracking sound when bent on a small angle, which made the fabric seem less tough and pliable than it was in fact. I have discovered that if the fabric, after being coated with glue, be dusted with, powdered chrome-alum and then pressed between heated surfaces, its apparent toughness will also become practically waterproof.

In practice I now use for the manufacture of counters and inner soling, under my Patents Nos. 299,125 and 299,126, cheap but thick cloths, (satinets or Hagerdowns,) and upon one side of the sheet I apply a coating of glue, the solution being preferably made of equal parts of glue and water, by weight, heated to about 200 Fahrenheit. This coating of glue I dust lightly with powdered chrome-alum, taking care to spread the powder thinly but evenly over the glue coating. Ithen apply the thinner sheet and calender with steamheated rolls, about 200 Fahrenheit, or press between steam-heated plates, or in molds when it is to be set into shape, as in the manufacture of counters. This treatment radically changes the nature of the glue, and as the (Specimens) glue is forced by the pressure into the interstices of the cloth or other like sheet material, I produce an article which very closely resembles leather as to its toughness, pliability, and behavior when wet, and which has in a very marked degree those qualities which adapt it for the manufacture of counters and inner soles.

While I prefer to use at least two thicknesses of sheet material, the thicker one as a body and the thinner as a lining or covering, or both, as described in my patents above mentioned, yet a single thickness may he saturated with the solution of glue or coated on both. sides, then dusted and calendered or pressed, and a highly useful fabric produced, which will embody my invention. Moreover, a number of sheets may be united after my invention, to form a tough fabric of any desired thickness.

It will be clear that my present invention, while it is an improvement 011 the inventions described in my former patents, yet relates more especially to the treatment of the glue; and while I have no theory as to the chemical operation of the chrome-alum upon the glue, I have found that it produces a most striking change and without injury toany sheet material which I have tested, if the proportion of chrome-alum by weight be small, say about six per cent. of the weight of glue used.

My attention has been called to Letters Patent No. 153,473, dated July 28, 1874, and No. 221,580, dated November 11, 1879; but my invention differs radically from anything describedin either of these patents, in that it is not a compound for coating fabrics, but a fabric composed of fibers cemented together by glue altered by treatment with chrome alum and heat.

What I claim as my invention is- The fabric above described,'consisting of fibers cemented together with glue treated with chrome-alum and heat, substantially as described.

GEORGE A. FULLERTON. WVitnesses:

W. A. COPELAND, J OHN R. Snow. 

